Progress has been made since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, but setbacks are currently visible in places due to a rise of the far right, says Peter Leuprecht, former dean from the Faculty of Law of McGill University. The one who was also special representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for human rights in Cambodia spoke with The duty, in order to retrace the journey of the founding document which is 75 years old this year. Comments collected by Florence Morin-Martel.
What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
It is an absolutely historic document and one of the great achievements of the United Nations. Obviously, it was adopted as a result of what had happened before, that is to say the Second World War […]. At the time the Declaration was adopted, its importance was great because it was essential. It was the beginning of the United Nations and it constituted one of its major programs for the future.
The Declaration remains valuable today, as some of the issues it attempts to address are still there. I really like the sentence in the document about the double liberation of human beings from terror and misery. This is very current […], because fundamental rights are an important means of preventing, preventing or alleviating human suffering. And there was a lot of human suffering in 1948, just like today. I think of those who live in war, particularly because of the current conflict in the Middle East [entre Israël et le Hamas]. There are also refugees and immigrants, all these people who are drowning in the Mediterranean in front of the fortress that is Europe. These examples are a reason to tirelessly continue the fight for human rights.
What remains to be done to achieve the ideal formulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
There is still a lot to do. It must also be said that there has been some progress. For example, the death penalty is applied much less around the world today than before. There are, however, some countries that still happily execute people, such as China, Iran, Saudi Arabia or the United States. On the other hand, I believe that each period produces particular threats. In our time, I see predatory globalization as threats, but also the threat to the environment, as well as the regressive and anti-democratic tendencies that we see almost everywhere.
What do you mean by “predatory globalization”?
This is the philosophy which is unfortunately largely dominant: that is to say that the law of the market is the universal law. From the point of view of the conception of what the human being is, this is regrettable, because we reduce the human being to an economic factor, a consumer, possibly an economic actor. But in this conception, there is above all no more room for economic and social rights and for solidarity.
I also believe that the terrible damage we are doing to the environment causes human suffering, and therefore violations of fundamental human rights. We are starting to realize it. There is a very important triangle which is made up of human rights, the environment and corporate social responsibility. Very often, the actions of companies, such as mining companies — and there are quite a few Canadian ones — violate the fundamental rights of human beings. We absolutely must hold them to account.
You were one of the speakers at the world conference held in Montreal in 2018 for the 70e anniversary of the Declaration. Have your views on the state of human rights in the world changed since then?
I think there hasn’t been a lot of progress since then, and maybe even some setbacks in places. For example, in different parts of the world, there is a return of far-right movements which are anti-human rights movements. Look in Europe, like in Hungary, Poland or even recently in the Netherlands with the victory of Geert Wilders [chef du Parti de la liberté qui est islamophobe].
Do you have hope for the future regarding human rights?
We must continue [d’avoir espoir]. There are still organizations that do remarkable work, such as Amnesty International and other NGOs specializing in human rights. There is also a growing awareness of the importance of the environment and environmental rights. But I believe that we absolutely must continue the fight […] by carrying out daily actions on all levels.
There are very interesting examples in different parts of the world where, really at the local level, we try to see how action in favor of fundamental rights can be carried out by individuals, but also by the authorities.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.